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Description

Morphological, chromosomal and behavioural diversification in the Australian velvet worms ('Peripatus').

The phylum Onychophora ('Velvet worms' or 'Peripatus') is of considerable scientific interest both because of its antiquity (there are fossils from the Burgess Shale, 540mya, that are strikingly similar to extant species) and its uncertain phylogenetic position.

In Australia, we have identified an enormous morphological, chromosomal and genetic radiation. The extent of this radiation is unclear, but we already recognise over 100 species (although barely half that number have been described). Work on their brain sturcture also reveals an unexpected level of complexity, and we have documented complex behaviours in these otherwise apparently simple organisms.